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Speed Reads "Journalist" comes to Trinity, and a request for a union hotel

For a moment let's suppose that Molly Ivins outed an undercover CIA operative — do you think Robert Novak would be concerned? Is breaching national security a concern that only applies to liberal reporters?

Ask me about Valerie Plame: "Journalist" Robert Novak, who outed CIA agent Plame in his syndicated column, will discuss "After the Elections ... Now What?" March 29 at 7:30 a.m. at the Doubletree Hotel, McCullough and Loop 410. Novak has consistently denied that the White House leaked Plame's name to him, and has mysteriously escaped the legal scrutiny that has befallen New York Times reporter Judith Miller and Time Magazine's Matthew Cooper. They face jail time for refusing to comply with subpoenas requiring them to testify about the source of the leak, including disclosing the identity of their confidential sources. Miller didn't publish a piece about the leak; Cooper did, without revealing his sources.

Novak is speaking as part of the Trinity University Policymakers Breakfast series. Tickets are $40. Info: 999-7601.

A union hotel? District 5 Councilwoman Patti Radle sent a letter to FaulknerUSA, who won the bid to build a Convention Center Headquarters Hotel, asking the company to hire union workers and construction crews. "It is my understanding that if the hotel is a 'union' hotel, it will be better able to attract labor and union groups, many of whom will only meet in union facilities," wrote Radle. Mayoral candidate Julián Castro and District 2 Councilman Joel Williams also have reportedly sent similar letters. FaulknerUSA didn't return calls for comment.

State benefits from South Side growth: The Texas General Land Office has sold two of six land tracts on San Antonio State School/Hospital property for $941,000. Developer John Schaefer purchased a 14-acre parcel for $189,000 ($13,500/acre) and Southwest Housing Acquisitions bought 27.5 acres for $752,000 ($27,289/acre). Apartment and senior housing complexes will be built on the tracts, which face South New Braunfels Street.

Money from the sale will partially reimburse the state for $11 million that the former Texas Department of Health and Human Services borrowed in 2003 for staff raises at the state schools and hospitals. The state will funnel the money to the Permanent School Fund, which supports public schools.